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"Cloudian" (雲魔物 (クラウディアン) Kuraudian) is an archetype used by Adrian Gecko in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime. It was introduced in Gladiator's Assault, with further support in Light of Destruction.

Most of these monsters cannot be destroyed by battle while in Attack Position, but if in Defense Position they are instantly destroyed via their own effects. Most "Cloudians" have their effects activated or become active while they have Fog Counters.

Members[]

Cloudian Origin
Acid Cloud Acid rain
Altus Altostratus cloud
Cirrostratus Cirrostratus cloud
Eye of the Typhoon Eye of the cyclone
Ghost Fog Fog
Nimbusman Cumulonimbus cloud
Poison Cloud Air pollution
Sheep Cloud Cumulus cloud
Smoke Ball Smoke
Storm Dragon Storm
Turbulence Turbulence

Support[]

Card Origin
Big Summon Cloud Mushroom cloud
Cloudian Aerosol Aerosol
Cloudian Squall Squall
Diamond-Dust Cyclone Diamond dust
Fog Control Weather modification
Lucky Cloud Cloud evaporation
Mirage Target Mirage
Natural Disaster Hailstorm
Raging Cloudian Tropical cyclogenesis
Rain Storm Rain
Summon Cloud Pareidolia phenomenon
Updraft Vertical draft

Playing style[]

"Cloudians" require an advanced degree of skill to use properly, because their usefulness depends mostly on how many Fog Counters there are on the field. They are often underestimated because, while most of the "Cloudians" cannot be destroyed by battle while in Attack Position, if they are in Defense Position they are destroyed by their own effects. In addition to that, their low ATK leaves their controller open to taking damage unless "Spirit Barrier" or "The Sanctuary in the Sky" are used. Once your support cards are in play, the opponent will find it frustratingly difficult to get past a "Cloudian" Deck's defenses. While the opponent is being stalled, the "Cloudian" user can then generate enough Fog Counters to whittle down the opponent's defenses, eventually leaving them with nothing to protect themselves from the otherwise "weak" monsters.

As a true child of the GX-era, "Cloudians" can use a multitude of effects, with a loose focus on spreading Fog Counters: They can swarm the field (using "Cloudian - Sheep Cloud" and "Cloudian - Turbulence"), on destroying the opponent's cards (via "Cloudian - Cirrostratus", "Cloudian - Poison Cloud" and "Cloudian - Acid Cloud"), on inflicting effect damage (with "Natural Disaster" or "Updraft"), on a Stall Victory, or on raw Beatdown power (with "Cloudian - Eye of the Typhoon" and "Cloudian - Nimbusman"). "Cloudian - Eye of the Typhoon" can also provide some field control by messing with the battle positions of opposing monsters. The seemingly weak monsters in the Deck such as "Cloudian - Altus", "Cloudian - Cirrostratus" and "Cloudian - Acid Cloud" become surprisingly useful with enough Fog Counters on the field. Through cards like "Cloudian Squall" and "Fog Control", anyone facing these three puff-balls will quickly find themselves with no monsters, no back row, no hand and no options, hence the name: "Cloud Control".

A killer combo can be made by using "Cloudian Squall", "Fog Control" and/or "Cloudian - Storm Dragon" to put Fog Counters on "Cloudian - Turbulence". Due to the fact that the effect of "Cloudian - Turbulence" is not restricted by a once per turn clause and "Smoke Ball" can be summoned from Deck or Graveyard, you can activate the effect multiple times per turn, effectively summoning an entire army of "Cloudian - Smoke Ball", which can then be used for Xyz or Link Summoning or simply as Tribut fodder for Monsters and Effects.

The effects of the "Cloudians" work when they have enough Fog Counters to pay for them. The number of Fog Counters they get depends on the number of "Cloudians" on the field when each "Cloudian" is Normal Summoned. Options to Special Summon before the Normal Summon is done include "Cloudian - Sheep Cloud" and "Cloudian - Turbulence", both having the potential to swarm the field with "Cloudians". The strength of the "Cloudians" lies in their ability to destroy cards using the Fog Counters, limiting the opponent's plays. "Cloudian Aerosol" can help setting up the board: Fetching any "Cloudian" monster from the deck is no effect to scoff at and the Fog Counter generation is helpful in a lot of scenarios.

Fog Counters[]

The aforementioned Fog Counters are the main power source for "Cloudian" monsters. These counters should be placed mainly on the "Cloudian"-player's monsters but certain "Cloudian" cards can take advantage of Fog Counters anywhere on the field (e.g. "Cloudian - Nimbusman", "Cloudian - Altus", "Diamond-Dust Cyclone").

"Cloudians" generally gain Fog Counters when they are Normal Summoned. Since Fog Counters can only be placed on face-up monsters, "Light of Intervention" is a good card to use in a "Cloudian" Deck. A good way to gradually strengthen your monsters is to have "Cloudian Squall" out and stalling tools to buy turns for accumulating Fog Counters.

Cloudian Fog Counters Unique effect
Acid Cloud 2 on the card Destroys 1 Spell or Trap Card.
Altus 3 from anywhere on the field Opponent has to discard 1 random card.
Cirrostratus 2 on the card Destroys 1 monster on the field.
Nimbusman Counts the total amount of Fog Counters on the field Gets 500 ATK for every Fog Counter on the field.
Turbulence 1 on the card Can Special Summon 1 "Cloudian - Smoke Ball" from the Deck or Graveyard.

Recommended cards[]

Since most "Cloudians" are Fairy type, a good card to add is "Athena", who can use her effect to Special Summon powerful "Cloudians" from the Graveyard by sacrificing smaller "Cloudians" like "Cloudian - Smoke Ball". Also, if using "Cloudian - Turbulence", the burn effect of Athena might add up to a respectable amount. However, while the Special Summoning is generally a good idea, bear in mind that most "Cloudians" gain their Fog Counters when they are Normal Summoned.

Another Fairy that might prove useful in a "Cloudian" deck is "Archlord Kristya". The "Cloudian" player can choose the timing of "Kristya" and while "Cloudians" are able to Special Summon monsters, they do not mind to play the game at a slower pace and to just Normal Summon once per turn. "Athena", "Archlord Kristya" and almost all "Cloudian" monsters also welcome "Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen" as an option for the deck.

It wouldn't hurt to add a "Gozen Match" or "Rivalry of Warlords" in the Side Deck as nearly all the monsters are one Type and most of them are one Attribute. If you know what type of Deck your opponent uses, you could slip in one (or both) of the above cards to limit your opponent's Summoning abilities while leaving yours almost untouched.

In the Extra Deck, a helpful card for a "Cloudian" deck could be "Mira the Star-Bearer". Its effect protects your "Cloudian" monsters from being destroyed, and it's fairly simple to summon with "Cloudian - Turbulence" and its ability to fetch the Level 1 "Smoke Ball".

Since "Cloudian - Smoke Ball" is a Level 1 Normal Monster and can be easily summoned by the aforementioned "Cloudian - Turbulence", you can get easy access to "Link Spider" or "Linkuriboh" and, with the right setup, you will be able to climb into Link 4 Monsters consistently .

"Foolish Burial Goods" can ditch "Cloudian Aerosol" to the Graveyard to make its second effect instantly available and therefore fetch whatever "Cloudian" might be helpful for any given situation.

Conveniently, a respectable amount of "Cloudians" is Level 4, allowing you to use the Rank 4 Xyz Toolbox. Cards like "Bahamut Shark", "Abyss Dweller", "Gagaga Cowboy", "Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer" and "Number 101: Silent Honor ARK" give the deck a wide array of effects and useful options to counter a variety of archetypes.


Weaknesses[]

While "Cloudians" cannot be destroyed by battle while in Attack Position, cards like "Stumbling", "Zero Gravity", "No Entry!!", "Earthquake", "Spider Web" and "Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"" would cripple this Deck as the these cards all force monsters into Defense Position making the "Cloudians" destroy themselves. "Spiders" are also a threat for the same reason, since many of them change the Battle Positions of a monster to Defense Position.

"Savage Colosseum" combined with anti-attacking effects also gives trouble even without forcing "Cloudian"s to Defense Position because any "Cloudian" will be destroyed by a card's effect instead of by battle if any don't attack; this can also be combined with "Begone, Knave!" and "Des Counterblow" to not only remove them from the Field but also bump off Fog Counters (this is especially an issue with "Nimbusman".) Speaking of Fog Counters, the archetype's main offensive cards ("Nimbusman", "Cirrostratus", "Altus", "Acid Cloud" and "Diamond Dust Cyclone") all rely on a steady supply of Counters to use their effects, making most "Cloudian" decks weak against "Counter Cleaner" and "Exhausting Spell".

Effect-negation cards, like "Skill Drain", "Infinite Impermanence" and "Angel O7," can make every "Cloudian" except "Cloudian - Eye of the Typhoon" uber-fragile on the field. Without their effects or a significant offensive boost, all of the "Cloudians" (except the aforementioned "Typhoon") are easily picked off by monsters with above 1800 ATK and many of them in this day and age can be easily Normal or Special Summoned. Their low ATK/DEF can also make them easy fodder for cards like the "Armed Dragons", "King Tiger Wanghu", "Deck Devastation Virus" and "Full Force Virus". Speaking of card stats, since the majority of "Cloudians" are also WATER, they're easy targets for the effects of "Elemental HERO Inferno" and "Diamond Dust". Burn Decks can also inflict additional punishment, as cards like "Cracking" and "Coffin Seller" can chip away at LPs when "Cloudian"s are snuffed by card effects.

Finally, with no overall card effect immunity present within the archetype, "Cloudian"s can easily be destroyed/sent to the GY/banished as well as be Tributed by your opponent.

Trivia[]

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